Choosing a Fund on an Expense
Use this when you are recording an expense and need to decide whether it belongs to Operating or Reserve. Every expense carries a fund, and the choice sits right under the expense type. Open...
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Use this when you are recording an expense and need to decide whether it belongs to Operating or Reserve. Every expense carries a fund, and the choice sits right under the expense type.
- Open Accounting -> Expenses -> Create Expense.
- Choose the expense type: Vendor bill, Quick expense, Reimbursement, or Direct payment.
- Set Fund to Operating or Reserve. Operating is selected by default.
- Fill in the vendor, amount, GL account and the rest as usual, then save.
Every expense type has a fund
The Fund choice appears on all four expense types, and it is carried through to payment on each of them. You do not pick it again when you pay.
Operating and Reserve are the two choices offered on an expense. The two trust funds are used for money you are holding on someone's behalf, which is not what an expense is, so they are not offered here. They are available on a journal entry.
Which one to pick
Operating is correct for the day-to-day bills a property pays out of its regular operating budget. Most expenses belong here, which is why it is the default.
Reserve is correct for a cost that should draw against the property's reserve savings rather than its operating funds, typically a major repair or a replacement.
If you are unsure, leave it on Operating. The choice can be changed later while the expense is still unpaid.
Changing the fund later
While an expense is still unpaid, you can reopen it and change the fund. The change updates the tag on the entry that is already posted. It does not send the expense back through approval.
Once an expense is paid, the fund is settled along with the payment. To change it after that, void the payment first.
Recurring contracts and templates
A recurring contract or a saved expense template carries its own fund. Every expense generated from it inherits that fund, so a reserve contract keeps producing reserve expenses without anyone re-picking it each period.
Check the fund when you first set up the contract or template. Correcting it there fixes every future occurrence at once.
Related: What a fund is · How a reserve expense posts · Setting up reserve spending